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The BIP took place in the framework of the InCities project. Students had  several online meetings from the end of October 2024 to mid-January 2025, and at the end of the activitiy they met together at our partner university ISCTE in Lisbon. 

Student Sofia shared her experience:

I am honoured to have been able to participate in the InCITIES - BIP Erasmus+ project entitled Cities Futures - Interdisciplinary Challenges, thanks to the Pioneer Alliance. It is an experience that gives a lot to a person. I am glad that together with other students from FRI, from different study programmes, we focused on different issues during the online part of this project, learned new things, but also looked at quite familiar knowledge from a new point of view. For me personally, the opportunity to meet new people is one of the most important aspects, and that is why I am glad that besides the "Fritzers" I met an architecture student from STU, Majka Vlcekova, who completed the spectrum of students from Slovakia. I also met many great people from Finland, specifically from Laurea University of Applied Sciences, and also from France, from Gustave Eiffel University. In the fourth week of this year we travelled to the capital of Portugal - Lisbon, where after several weeks of online lectures we finally met face to face at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE). The city is beautiful and there were plenty of opportunities to explore. In addition to the joint activities within the university, I was thrilled by the Oceanárium and the Museu Nacional do Azulejo - a tile museum. I was very pleased that the teaching at BIP combined theory with practice. The projects that we have developed in the BIP can have a real application, which I believe pleases every participant. We visited the partners of this project directly in Lisbon, who shared their experiences with us and were interested in our opinions and suggestions that could help them to improve. As an example, I will mention the Inovar Autismo Centre for Autistic Individuals, which helps with inclusivity towards a better quality of life and even independence. We also visited Audax-ISCTE, an organisation that acts as an incubator for start-ups. Here, already successful entrepreneurs shared their stories with us and gave us information about their projects. In addition to visiting the partners of this program, we also enjoyed sightseeing, which showed us that education does not only have to take place in lecture halls, but also in everyday life outside the comfort zone. I must not forget to add that communicating in English and the whole language aspect of this project is another valuable experience. It is difficult to summarize all the benefits of this project in a few paragraphs. For anyone who is hesitating to try Erasmus, I would like to give courage with this article. Whether such a short, combined programme or a full-semester mobility, both will broaden your horizons. Erasmus is an irreplaceable experience that I can only recommend. In conclusion, I would like to highlight that I appreciate this opportunity, because in the sequence of current events, I really realise the importance of freedom, Slovakia's membership in the EU and what a great opportunity Erasmus is. We must not forget that freedom is not a given, and the opportunity to travel, to experience new countries and cultures is a great example of this.